Conundrum
by Bat-teen 28
Summary: Riddler is walking in the park ,after an argument with Scarecrow and meets a very strange yet intelligent girl called Emily. After this encounter Emily meets the Scarecrow, Mad Hatter and Jester. She meets Jester on Halloween, were they get up to no good and at the end they discover Emily might not just be a fan of the Riddler, she might be connected to him in more ways then one.


Conundrum.

Edward Nigma, walked along the path in the park, slightly astounded that no one recognised him, just because he wasn't in his usual green suit. He'd just been in a fight with Jonathan and he needed to get some air, also he was thinking of what he was going to call Crane when he got back.

Edward sat on a bench and looked at all the Gothamites walking around, completely ignoring him, like he was some ordinary idiot like them selfs. As he continued to look around he spotted a young girl , about Jester's age, sitting under a tree and doing a crossword puzzle, from the Gotham times.

Edward was quite impressed because ,on very rare occasions, even he found the crossword in the Gotham times quite hard.

Edward slowly walked over to the girl, who was absorbed in her puzzle, and leaned against the tree, looking over her shoulder.

To Edward's surprise she had almost finished, but she seemed to be struggling with the last one.

"Do you know the answer?" the girl spoke up very suddenly.

"Wh-what?" asked Edward a little caught of guard by the girls sudden voice.

"Do. You. Know. The. Answer?" the girl asked in a tone Edward didn't like.

"Yes." he said, slightly annoyed.

"Pray tell." said the girl, still not looking up.

"The answer is a candle." said Edward smugly.

The girl looked back at her crossword and scowled. "Candle of course! Oh Emily you idiot! The answer was so simple!" the girl hissed at her self.

"Is that how you complete the crosswords? You just ask a random stranger if they know the answer, then you write it down?" asked Edward.

"No!" hissed the girl. "You looked intelligent that's why I asked you."

"I'm kina' hoping I still look intelligent." retorted Edward.

The girl looked up at him and smiled. "Don't worry, you still look intelligent." she said. as she put her crossword and pencil away in her bag.

"So then," she said smiling up at him. "To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting the great Riddler?"

Edward blinked. "How do you-"

"How do I know you are the Riddler? Easy. No one else in this city is smart enough to get that clue." she said still smiling.

"And you're not frightened of me?" asked Edward.

The girl shuck her head. "Not at all. Like I said, you're very intelligent and only a stupid or deranged person would kill a kid in a public park, with no plan of escape and there are a lot of police about, because Poison Ivy escaped last week. So you see ,Riddler, I have nothing to fear from you, mainly because you're not a stupid person and you don't kill random strangers willy nilly, unlike some of your fellow rogues, like the Joker ,who just do it for the fun of it."

Edward nodded. "Very true."

"Now say if it was Mister Zsasz that I was speaking to right now…. well, then I would be slightly more worried. Now don't get me wrong, I respect you and your intelligence, you're just to smart for me to be worried or frightened." said the girl as she looked at her watch. "Oh dear, I'm afraid I'll have to abandon our little chat, you see my dad doesn't have a sense of humour." said the girl as she stood up.

Edward looked at her and noticed a scar on her forehead. "does your dad hit you?" he asked.

The girl gave a week smile and nodded. "Unfortunately, I was not blessed with a good father, but on the other hand I was thankfully not blessed with his intelligence."

Edward smiled. "Ditto."

The girl smiled back at him.

"Well," he said. "I shan't keep you any longer. Goodbye….. Er Emily was it?"

"It was indeed Mister...?"

"Nigma, Edward Nigma."

The girl nodded. "Right. Well, goodbye Mister Nigma, I hope to speak to you again soon. It was nice to speak to someone with an actual intellect."

"Same here." called Edward as the girl walked away.

Edward looked at the time and sighed. He'd better head home too, it was getting late and he knew that, unlike the Gothamites, Batman would definitely recognise him. Green suit or not.

Edward quickly walked home, all the way thinking about that strange, but quite intelligent, girl he met in the park. It was slightly scary how similar they were.

That's when he realised she hadn't given him her last name, which was strange considering that a girl with that amount of intelligence would know that the proper way to introduce yourself was to say both your first and last name. Unless…. she didn't want to give him her last name so he couldn't find her.

Smart girl. Edward thought. But I can still find her, with or without a last name.

"Oh dear, oh dear. I can not seem to be able to reach that copy of 'Alice in Wonderland', Er Jonathan, do you think you could lend me hand?" asked Jervis as he and Jonathan looked around the book shop.

"No." snapped Jonathan as he looked for 'The Raven' by Edger Alan Poe.

Jervis sighed. "Being so short can be quite inconvenient some times." muttered Jervis as he tried to reach the book again and failing in the process.

Then a hand reached up and brought the book down.

Jervis looked up to see a young girl standing in front of him.

"'Alice in Wonderland' huh? Figures." said the girl as she handed Jervis the book.

Jervis quickly snatched it from the girls hand. "Thank you." said Jervis.

"No problem Mister Hatter." said the girl who was about to turn away when Jonathan slammed her up against the book shelf.

"Whoa! Whoa! Take it easy, I'm not gonna' rat you out." she said holding her hands up in surrender.

"How can we trust you?" hissed Jonathan.

"I knew who you two were before I got close to you. Don't you think if I was going to rat you out I would have already?" said the girl.

Jonathan sighed. "I surpose you're right." he said as he let her go.

The girl straightened herself off and picked up the crossword books she had dropped.

"Crosswords huh? I know a rogue who would like you." said Jonathan.

"The Riddler?" replied the girl. "I made his aquantence yesterday."

"You did?" replied Jervis.

"Yes I did. Know I'm afraid I have to leave." said the girl.

"What are you afraid of?" asked Jonathan smiling.

The girl smiled back at him. "I don't know, and quite frankly Scarecrow, I don't wanna' know." said the girl as she walked away from the two rogues.

"It's Halloween!" cried Jester as she ran out the door to the hideout.

The other rogues shuck their heads. Jester loved Halloween. Mainly because she could walk around the streets and not get attacked by police.

She skipped down the ally, to the main roads and sprinted to the main city centre.

When she got there, she saw hundreds of people dressed up in costume. Most, if not all, where dressed as Gotham's hero's. But there was one or two who weren't.

"Nice Jester costume." said a female voice from behind her.

Jester turned around to see a girl dressed in a 'Riddler' costume. Her ginger her, which was really ginger, was done up in a pony tail and she wore a dark green mask.

"Jester smiled. "Thanks. Nice Riddler costume."

The girl smiled. "Thanks, though looking at you now I'm not to sure that what you're waring is a costume." said the girl smirking.

Jesters eye's went wide. "How do yo- mhpf?!"

The girl , who was dressed in the Riddler costume, had put her hand over Jester's mouth. "Shhhh! Do you really want the rest of these party goers to know who you are?" she hissed.

Jester glared at the girl, who still had her hand over her mouth.

"That was what I thought." said the girl as she removed her hand.

"Who are you?" hissed Jester. She was not at all pleased with the girl putting her hand over her mouth.

The girl smiled. "Now, now. There's no need for that tone."

Jester's glare got even more intense. "Oh I'm sorry. What is your name sweet lady who dresses in colours of the Riddler." said Jester, with pure sarcasm dripping from her lips.

The girl smiled. "Now that would be telling." she said.

"I'm not the Riddler. I can't guess what your name is from a few stupid letters and numbers!" yelled Jester.

"Keep it down. Do you really want to attract attention of the unnecessary kind?" asked the girl.

Jester shuck her head. "You sound just like him."

"Like who?" asked the girl folding her arms.

"Like Riddler." said Jester.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment." said the girl.

"You shouldn't." said Jester.

"I don't care , that's still how I'm gonna' take it." retorted the girl.

Jester looked at her and smiled. "You know what kid, you're not that bad. I like your attitude especially."

"You do?" asked the girl a hint of shock in her voice.

"Sure." said Jester grinning.

"Well, that's a first." said the girl looking at the floor.

Jester smiled. "Say, why don't we have some fun?" cried Jester as she grabbed the girls hand and sprinted off, out of the city centre, dragging the girl behind her.

"What kind of fun?" asked the girl as they reached the end of the city centre.

"The usual. Gravitying buildings, hot wiring cars, frowing a few water bombs at police….. you know? The usual stuff." said Jester as she dragged the girl further away from the crowed.

The girl looked behind her as the city centre got further and further away.

"Wait, Wait!" cried the girl as she slowed down to a stop.

"What's wrong?" asked Jester. "You're not scared are you?"

"Of getting caught? No. Of you? Most definitely." replied the girl.

Jester rammed her up against the wall. "Listen kid," she said as she pulled a flip knife from her sleeve. "I don't usually let people speak to me the way you just did back there, those who did only did it once and I most certainly do not let people put their hand over my mouth without them loosing a finger and if I really don't like them, their entire hand. So let me just get this straight with Ya' if I really wanted to kill Ya' I already would have, even if there were people around or not. So don't go second guessing me, because let me tell Ya' it's a bad thing to do. Got it?"

The girl slowly nodded.

Jester smiled and put away her flip knife. "Good. Come on let's go and have some fun." she said as she grabbed the girl's arm and dragged her along.

By the end of the night they had done everything Jester had said and were now in one of the cars Jester had hot wired.

Then ,as they turned a corner, Batman jumped onto the front of the bonnet.

Jester glared at him. "No hitch hikers!" she yelled "I didn't see Ya' stick your thumb out B-man and jumping onto someones bonnet is just plain rude!" she yelled as she tried to throw him off. But he didn't budge.

"Thine keep the car! I prefer running any way." said Jester as she grabbed the girls hand and jumped out of the car.

They ran down the closest ally to the next block.

"Has any one ever survived a night out with you?" cried the girl.

Jester looked at her and shrugged. "First time for every thing." she said grinning.

"Great." sighed the girl.

They carried on running till Jester pulled the girl into the Iceberg Lounge.

"What are we doing here?" asked the girl.

"Well, I don't know about you but I'm thirsty and would like a drink." said Jester as she sat at the bar.

The girl sat next to her. The bar man came, tuck their orders and returned a few seconds later with their drinks.

"So…" said Jester as she tuck a sip of her drink. "What's your name kiddo? You going to tell me now?"

"Emily. My name's Emily." said the girl.

"Gotta' last name?" asked Jester taking another sip.

"Emily Never-you-mind." hissed Emily.

Jester smiled. "Nice come back Em'"

"Nick names already?" asked Emily a little bit shocked.

Jester shrugged. "Why not- in fact I've got a better name."

"Oh?" asked Emily. "What is it?"

"How about Conundrum?" said Jester grinning at her.

Emily seemed to run the name through her head. Then she turned to Jester and smiled. "Conundrum. I like it."

Jester grinned. "I thought you would. Come on I'll take you back to my house."

"Your house?" asked Emily.

Jester nodded. "Yep, I'll introduce you to my friends."

Emily stopped in her tracks. "Wait, you mean the Joker?"

Jester laughed. "No, not him. He's just my boss on occations. No my friends are the Mad Hatter, the Scarecrow, Killer Croc and your fave' the Riddler." said Jester grinning.

"Hey guy's I'm back!" cried Jester as she and Emily walked inside.

"Finally." muttered Edward.

Jester rolled her eyes. "Oh come on Ed don't be like that." she said as she sat down on the sofa next to him.

Edward just ignored her.

"Say Emily why don't you come and sit down instead of being a draft excluder." laughed Jester.

Edward looked up as Emily came and sat down.

"Hello Mister Nigma. It's nice to see you again." said Emily smiling.

"You too." said Edward grinning.

"Do you two know each other?" asked Jester.

"We met a few days ago in the park." said Edward.

Jester smiled. "That's cool." she said.

"So then Emily, are you going to tell me your last name?" asked Edward as Jonathan, Jervis and Croc walked in.

Emily gave them a little wave as they sat down. Then she turned her attention back to Edward.

"Well?" he said.

"My full name is Emily Nashton." said Emily smiling. But it quickly went away when she realised the room had fell silent and all the rogues were staring at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked slightly confused, well, actually slightly is a understatement. She was very confused.

Finally Edward broke the silence. "What was your mother's name?" he asked.

"Erin Nashton why?" asked Emily still confused.

Edward seemed to be calculating something in his head and when ,Emily imagined, he reached the conclusion his face paled considerably.

"What is it?" asked Emily getting worried.

"Edward's original last name was Nashton." said Jester.

"So?" asked Emily. "It could just be a-"

"And his sister's name was Erin." said Jonathan.

Emily's eye's went wide. "Wait are you saying that he's….he's…"

"Your uncle." finished Jester.

Emily turned towards Edward and smiled. "Do you think you have room left for a little girl like me?" asked Emily.

Edward grinned. "Of course Emily."

"Wrong Emily ,uncle, Emily Nashton is no more. Emily Nigma however is very much alive but I prefer the name Conundrum." said Emily with a smile.

THE END…..FOR NOW.


End file.
